Ten Seconds to Hell (1959)

Regista:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Robert Aldrich (writer)
Lawrence P. Bachmann (novel)

Data di uscita:

16 giugno 1959 (West Germany)

Genere:

Drama | War

Slogan:

Blockbuster About To Explode!

Plot:

At the end of the Second World War six German ex-soldiers return to Berlin and set up as a bomb disposal group...

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Based On Novel | Number In Title

Recensioni degli utenti:

This might have been a good film, but it fails.

Cast

Jack Palance	...	Eric Koertner
Jeff Chandler	...	Karl Wirtz
Martine Carol	...	Margot Hofer
Robert Cornthwaite	...	Franz Loeffler
Virginia Baker	...	Frau Bauer
Richard Wattis	...	Major Haven
Wesley Addy	...	Wolfgang Sulke (as Wes Addy)
Dave Willock	...	Peter Tillig
James Goodwin	...	Hans Globke (as Jimmy Goodwin)
Nancy Lee	...	Ruth Sulke
Charles Nolte	...	Doctor

Alias:

The Phoenix (UK)
Dieci secondi con il diavolo (Italy) [it]

Durata:

93 min

Nazionalità:

UK | USA

Lingua:

Inglese

Colore:

Bianco e nero

Sonoro:

Mono (Klangfilm-Eurocord)

Divieti:

Norway:16 | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Luoghi delle riprese:

UFA Studios, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Citazioni:

Karl Wirtz: I guess it's still my bomb.

Movie Connections:

Citato in Ken Adam: Designing Bond (2000) (V)

This might have been a good film, but it fails.

This might have been a good film, but it failed on more than one count. I have to compare it to the TV Series "Danger UXB", which, while it had much longer to develop its' story, was infinitely superior. The technical information in the TV series was much more interesting, and I kept wondering why the methods used in this film were so obviously poor, especially at the end of the war when all the methods, equipment and information should have been superior. In the finish, I came to the conclusion that this film, based on Lawrence P. Bachmann's novel "The Phoenix", used the bomb defusing merely as background, and that methods of bomb disposal were poorly understood by the writer, who probably didn't care anyway. In contrast, it is clear that someone who knew what he was talking about wrote the TV series. Although not credited in the listing here, I recall someone mentioned in the credits for the series (an Army officer) as a technical advisor, and it shows.

We are left, therefore, with viewing this film as an essay on personal conflicts and relationships, and it fails badly on that count as well. The motivations of the characters are confusing and hard to believe and ultimately uninteresting. The cast are wasted in this, which is only worth watching if you are sick in bed and have nothing better to do.